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Known originally as Peach Grove, the area received the designation Tysons Crossroads after the Civil War. William Tyson, from Cecil County, Maryland, purchased a tract of land from A. Lawrence Foster. Tyson, a Maryland native, served as postmaster of the now discontinued Peach Grove Post Office 1854-1866. The Peach Grove Post office was established Tuesday, April 22, 1851.[9]

As recently as the 1950s, Tysons Corner was a quiet rural intersection flanked by a few small stores. Big changes came in 1963 when the Tysons area moved from a country crossroads to a giant commercial urban area with the awarding of contracts at the interchange of Route 7 and Route 123.

In recent years, the influx of technology companies into Northern Virginia has brought many new office buildings and hotels to the landscape. The rapid growth of Tysons Corner (in comparison to other locations near the Capital Beltway) has been the topic of numerous studies.[11] One factor was the aggressive promotion of Tysons Corner by Earle Williams, for many years the CEO of the defense contracting firm Braddock Dunn & McDonald.[11] Tysons Corner serves as a "downtown" of Fairfax County, with one quarter of all office space and one eighth of all retail in the county. It is an auto-oriented edge city with severe traffic congestion, and it faces competition from the urban areas of Arlington and newer suburban edge cities such as Dulles.

In 2008, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to begin a 40-year plan to urbanize Tysons Corner around the coming four stops of Washington Metro's Silver Line in the vein of neighboring Arlington County's Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.[12] A preliminary estimate from the Fairfax County Department of Transportation suggested that $7.83 billion in transportation infrastructure projects will be necessary to transform Tysons Corner into a high-density urban center from 2010 to 2050, most of which will be allocated to both construction phases of the Silver Line. Existing plans call for construction of a grid layout for streets around the rail stations, projected to cost $742 million. An additional $1 billion will be spent on further transit and street grid projects from 2030 to 2050.[13]

In November 2012, the county approved Arbor Row, a 2,500,000 ft (762,000 m) mixed-used development containing office and residential highrises, ground-floor retail, and underground parking near the pending Tysons Corner Station.[14] In April 2013, the county approved Scotts Run South, a 6,700,000 ft (2,042,160 m) development containing 17 buildings, including six office and residential buildings, one hotel, and ground-floor retail near the pending McLean Station. This development alone will be larger than Reston Town Center.[15][16]

Ahead of the Washington Metro Silver Line opening in mid-2014, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Tysons Partnership, a nonprofit association that represents the area's stakeholders, began rebranding the area as simply "Tysons", dropping "Corner" from the name. The change started as a matter of convenience, but then later took hold to market the change in the area's character, according to members of the board. The change is unofficial, and either "Tysons" or "Tysons Corner" can be used in addresses.[4]

The community lies in the Piedmont upland approximately 3.7 miles (6.0 km) south-southwest of the Potomac River.[5][19] The highest natural point in Fairfax County, at 520 feet (160 m) above sea level, is located in Tysons Corner.[20] Wolftrap Creek, a tributary of nearby Difficult Run, forms the northwestern border of the community. Two of the creek's tributaries, Moomac Creek and the Old Courthouse Spring Branch, flow north through northwest Tysons Corner. Scott Run, a tributary of the Potomac, flows north through eastern Tysons Corner.[5]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 4.27 square miles (11.1 km2) of which 4.26 square miles (11.0 km2) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.026 km2) is water.[6]

Tysons Corner was one of the inspirations for, and figures prominently in, Joel Garreau's pioneering study of the edge city phenomenon.[8] Among the reasons for calling Tysons Corner an edge city is that, in contrast to typical "bedroom" suburbs, people commute into it in the morning and away from it at night, with a daytime population greater than 100,000 and a nighttime population of fewer than 20,000.[22] Planners envision up to 200,000 jobs and 100,000 residents in coming decades.[12]

There were 9,481 households out of which 23.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 2.9% had a male householder with no wife present, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.9% were non-families. 40.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07, and the average family size was 2.87.[1]

The age distribution of the community was 18.4% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 40.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.8 years. The gender makeup of the community was 47.7% male and 52.3% female.[1]

The median income for a household in the community was $94,083, and the median income for a family was $131,717. Males had a median income of $85,645 versus $66,019 for females. The community's per capita income was $64,294. About 2.8% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.[1]

Tysons Corner is Fairfax County's central business district with the largest concentration of office space in Northern Virginia.[7] Tysons had 46 million sq ft (4.3 million m²) of office and retail space as of 2008, making it the classic example of an edge city.[12] As of 2013, Tysons Corner had 14 million sq ft (1.3 million m²) of office and retail space approved or under construction, approximately one-third of a 45 million sq ft backlog of projected urban development in close proximity to the area's four Metro Silver Line stations.[23]

The Tysons II development area, home to the Tysons Galleria mall, itself sometimes referred to as 'Tysons II'

The CDP includes a technology industry base and network infrastructure. In 2007, roughly 1,200 technology companies were operating in Tysons Corner. 31.6% of the jobs in the Tysons Corner submarket and 20.2% of the companies in the submarket were in the technology sector.[7]

Tysons Corner is the 12th largest employment center in the United States.[40] As of 2012, 75.6% of the population over the age of 16 was in the labor force. 0.6% was in the armed forces, and 75.0% was in the civilian labor force with 70.4% employed and 4.5% unemployed. The occupational composition of the employed civilian labor force was: 66.4% in management, business, science, and arts; 20.3% in sales and office occupations; 10.5% in service occupations; 2.1% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance; 0.7% in production, transportation, and material moving. The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (28.8%); educational services, health care, and social assistance (13.3%); and public administration (12.8%).[1]

The cost of living in Tysons Corner is very high; compared to a U.S. average of 100, the cost of living index for the community is 140.4.[41] As of 2012, the median home value in the community was $464,000, the median selected monthly owner cost was $2,649 for housing units with a mortgage and $906 for those without, and the median gross rent was $1,734.[1]

As it is unincorporated, Tysons Corner has no municipal government. The Fairfax County Government provides local government services directly.[42] For the purposes of representation on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Tysons is located in the Board's Hunter Mill and Providence Districts.[43]

Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway, runs generally north-south through eastern Tysons Corner. Virginia State Route 267, the east-west Dulles Toll Road, runs along the community's northern border. The I-495/VA 267 interchange is located in the northeastern part of the community. Virginia State Route 7 runs southeast-northwest through Tysons Corner, intersecting Virginia State Route 123, which runs northeast-southwest, in the community's center.[47]